Babbitt

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm, have I become a Babbitt?
Review: Much of my reading is non fiction, particularly American history. However, as a history enthusiast, I sometimes like to read American fiction since such literature gives a first hand flavor of cultural history. I read this book many years ago and in rereading this past week, I realize how timeless it is. Since I first read it, I have become a middle aged adult active in local civic organizations. Additionally, I am basically conservative both politically and socially. Thus, this book gives me pause as I wonder, "have I become Babbitt?" I hope not since Babbittism (is that a word?) is a state of mind, not a superficial demographic profile. If you are a Babbitt, you are a self satisfied blowhard, yet are not free of underlying self doubts and insecurities. Such fatuous swellheads come in all political and social stripes.

This novel satirizes the conservative, semi ignorant, civic minded business person but, there is a much more subtle satire running through the book. At one point, Babbitt fancies himself as "broad minded and liberal." For a time, he starts to run around with a different sort of crowd. Although this particular satire doesn't hit you up side the head, if you read carefully, the trendy liberals of that time (1920s) are also satirized.

Ultimately, this book is about the power of conformity. When this book was written, the author saw it as a nearly irresistable force. His examination of this issue may well be relevant today.

Rating:
Summary: misunderstood?
Review: Odd, isn't it, that George F. Babbitt should be one of the most reviled characters in American literature? What, after all, is his great crime ? It's not that he's a conformist; we're all conformists of one kind or another; such is the nature of social creatures. No, the problem with George Babbitt, that which has so incensed intellectuals for some eighty-odd years is the set of ideas that he conforms to : Middle American ideals--hard work, thrift, salesmanship, conservatism, Christianity, family values, monogamy, the whole panoply of traditional morays of which the Left is so contemptuous.

George's story is fairly simple. A successful Realtor in the booming midwestern city of Zenith, married with three children, George is a pillar of the community and a support to his family, but he's not happy. Everyone is always coming to him with their complaints about life, but he's never supposed to question his lot. Then his friend, Paul Riesling, begins to express his own dissatisfaction and together the two begin to sow some wild oats. George goes along on a trip to Maine without their wives, but eventually Paul sprints ahead by first having an affair and then shooting his wife.

George, who had tried reigning Paul in, now proceeds to have his own affair with the widow Tanis Judique. He also starts to hang out with some of Tanis's scruffy friends and to vocally question the received wisdom of Zenith's business community. But George's wife, Myra, finds out about the affair and George's business partners bail out on a few deals. Meanwhile, George discovers that Tanis, though her life seemed freer at first, is just as bound by societal conventions as he.

With his own business now suffering and the bloom off of his new romance, George is already beginning to waiver, and when Myra comes down with a potentially deadly case of appendicitis, he realizes that he wants his old life back. Myra and his friends welcome him back to the fold.

In a final scene, George's son elopes, and he surprises everyone by accepting the marriage. He even tells the boy that he should seize his opportunities now, because he (George) never truly did anything he wanted to his whole life.

Now I understand that on the surface this does seem like an indictment of middle America, but it also reads like a cautionary tale, defending Zenith and its citizens from the notion that they'd be happier if they rebelled. In fact, the most convincing and moving moments in the whole book come when George returns to Myra.

Likewise, perhaps the truest and certainly the funniest social criticism in the book is aimed not at the good people of Zenith, but at those who would change them. When The Reverend Mike Monday, who might easily be nothing but a caricature of a huckster preacher, comes to town.

Sure, Lewis may have thought this was so over-the-top as to preclude the reader paying any heed to the message, or he may have meant it as nothing more than self-deprecating humor, but isn't it at least possible that he suspected we'd prefer this kind of muscular Christianity to the offerings of the lemon-sucking professors, maybe even that he himself preferred it ? If Monday is supposed to be one of the bad guys, ask yourself this, outside of Richard III, when's the last time you recall the bad guy getting such funny lines at the expense of the good guys ?

At any rate, however Lewis intended us to take the story of George Babbitt and his abortive rebellion, the past eighty years have certainly vindicated the morality, even the hypocrisy, of Zenith and its most famous resident. George Babbitt is really one of the heroes of American Literature, all the more so because he chafes at the tugging of the reins but keeps pulling the wagon. Of such sacrifices are great nations and great cultures made.

GRADE : A

Rating:
Summary: What's to like?
Review: On the first page, Lewis describes "an artistic adventure considerably illuminated by champagne" and I thought I was in for a book filled with more of the same delightful prose. Alas.

Mildly interesting for the glimpse of what drinking was like during Prohibition, this book is just another one of too many boo-hoo stories about modern man living the cliche of a dissatisfied life. Why the countless examples of this tiresome genre are to this day lauded as "classics" is beyond me. Perhaps this social commentary was radical at the time it was written, but repetitively harping on the hollowness of modern materialism is not compelling reading today.

I prefer to read books about subjects other than the vague discontent and malaise which pervade the lives of the outwardly successful. The notion that money can't buy happiness is no longer thought-provoking. It is common knowlege to all but the most steadfastly ridiculous people, and they aren't about to pick up an 80-year old book and have an epiphany, so the literary relevance of these non-adventures of George F. Babbitt is questionable, at best. Since neither the stereotypical characters nor the prose itself is particularly engaging after the first page, I cannot recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: Only 3 stars because it is not the most exciting or enjoyable read. But, it is an important read about materialism, having the wrong dreams, and middle-class conformity. I think that "Death of a Salesman" is a more touching and interesting tale of such things, but keep in mind, that drama came out 20 years after Babbitt.

Reading Babbitt will make you re-examine your own life and will hopefully stop you from making the mistakes that poor Babbitt made.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Taste of the Roaring Twenties
Review: Recently I read two good non-fiction books about 1920s America: The Uncertainty of Everyday Life (Harvey Green), and Only Yesterday (Frederick L. Allen). Both of these books mentioned Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt, so I thought I'd check it out.

After the introduction to this period I got from the above-mentioned histories, I found Babbitt to be a nice companion piece and a good continuation of my study of Roaring 20s America.

Written in 1922 and set in 1920, this novel gives what I think is a good picture of USA in that time. True, Lewis' own prejudices against the upper middle class businessman of his era shine through. But I think the cultural insights we see in the novel are quite accurate. We can take the Babbitt's and their friends as typical representatives of their time and social class --- we see their "typical" day, their "typical" vacations, pasttimes, and activities. Even the colloquialisms are interesting; I can see how they can become annoying after a while, but they do add a reality to the story.

I recommend Babbitt, the other two books I mentioned, and perhaps Edward Behr's book Prohibition as a package for the ambitious amateur historian who seeks to understand what life in our grand parents' and great grand parents' America was like. I think if you get through all four you'll have a pretty good idea of what things were like in that time period.

Rating:
Summary: Peppy All-American Booster Weathers Mid-Life Crisis
Review: Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Hart Benton, the artist, were about the same age, they both focussed on the American Heartland, and as I read Lewis, I see that they both had something else in common. They both had a tendency to draw cartoonish characters. George F. Babbitt is the main character of a satire by the same name; you might even laugh aloud in some places. Lewis is skillful, but at times, heavy-handed. He has portrayed an average Joe of 1920, the pep- and vim-obsessed go-getting businessman who was the bedrock of our industrial age, hypocritical, materialist, crooked, conformist, even proto-fascist. Babbitt is a real estate agent, a family man surrounded by the wealth of material goods provided by thriving industrial capitalism. He belongs enthusiastically and unquestioningly to any organization dedicated to preserving his and his family's ready access to those goods---professional group (realtors association), Boosters, church, and set social circle. He spouts meaningless platitudes on every subject, knows nothing except the price of real estate and methods of collusion, and ignores his feelings, his family, and the rest of the world, all the while believing that his city, state, and country are the best in the world. The first 90-odd pages of BABBITT are pure genius; one of the best character portraits you are likely to find in American literature---but it is a caricature after all. Lewis' choice of names underlines his cartoonish glee in writing this brilliant novel---Vergil Gunch, Professor Pumphrey, Chet Laylock, Matt Penniman, Muriel Frink, Opal Mudge, Carrie Nork, and Miss McGoun---names that could have been annexed years later by MAD magazine ! "Babbitt" has long been a word in American English, signifying a conforming materialist citizen without a mind of his own. Perhaps this is not entirely fair.

George goes through a mid-life crisis, rebels against his static, materialistic life with its know-nothing attitudes, its moral certitudes, and its boring routines. His closest friend (aren't there certain unspoken overtones of homosexual love ?) commits a dastardly deed, breaking George's heart. "On the rebound", he meets the fantastically-named Tanis Judique, femme fatale à la Midwest. Certain consequences arise, Lewis brings in his ever-present fear of American fascist tendencies, and there's a rather hopeful ending, also in the American tradition. If you are looking for a place to begin reading Sinclair Lewis, BABBITT is an excellent choice. If you already know other Lewis novels, don't miss this one. I would say that with "Main Street", "Elmer Gantry" and "Dodsworth", BABBITT is at the solid gold core of Sinclair Lewis' work. He certainly did deserve that Nobel Prize.

Rating:
Summary: a novel of conformity
Review: Sinclair Lewis is best known for his novel Main Street. But Babbitt is a fine novel. H.G. Wells said of it: "I wish I could have written Babbitt." It's a novel about George F. Babbitt and the city he lives in, Zenith. Some of the greatest lines in the book are descriptions of Zenith, not the least of which is the opening lines. Lewis creates in Babbitt the total conformist and we follow him through his conformity and into thinking on his own. Babbitt is simply a man who wants to be liked by everyone. Babbitt gives expression to the glibness and irresponsibility of the professional social climber. Lewis gives us one of our modern classics.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to Get Ahead in Middle America
Review: Sinclair Lewis is generally relegated to second-rate status by the academics - despite the fact that he was America's first Nobel Prize winner for Literature. As Robertson Davies, among others, asserted, Lewis is vastly under-rated and under-read among American novelists. He deserves far more attention - because of his literary gifts as well as his ability to mirror and illuminate the American character. Sinclair Lewis understood very well the forces at work in America in the early to mid part of the 20th century - not all of it positive. Perhaps Lewis' unpopularity in America is in part due to his caricatures of Americans in an unflattering light. No one should consider Lewis in the pantheon of literary immortals - but surely he fits somewhere in the curriculum. Lewis is highly readable, his satire is highly amusing, his prose is intelligent and his observations on the pitfalls and hypocrisy of pursuit of happiness in America are brilliant. His portrayal of Babbitt as the Lost Soul, knowing that he is lost but without the willingness or moral courage to find meaning in his existence, is a moving commentary on middle class America "getting ahead" that continues to be contemporary to subsequent generations.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest novels of the Century !
Review: Sinclair Lewis literally made a spiritual surgeon around the human being with his disventures and trivialities .
This merciless story must have been schoking the most advanced minds in that age . The scandal raised for this work was the clear signal about its inner qualities .
My kind reader ; I believe that any creation process somehow implies the destruction of the established previously order.
Think about the scandal generated for Le Sacre du prientemps in 1913 , the Marcel Duchamp works , The Eroica , The Sixtin Chapel or The Citizen Kane in movies .
If you are an artist and nothing happens beware what you are doing .
This book somehow broke the walls in the early thirties and allowed to Sinclair Lewis to throw his glow to the eternity with this masterwork .

Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining
Review: Sinclair Lewis wrote a series of satires that exposed the hypocrisy of early 20th century America. “Babbitt” is a snapshot of the life of George F. Babbitt, a somewhat prosperous middle class businessman who lives in Zenith, Ohio. Zenith has a population of 300,000+, and has an active business community. This community has its own rituals and ironclad rules. These rules consist of being one of the gang, being a member of all the right clubs and organizations, and never deviating from the ideals of business and money. These rules cause enormous difficulties for Babbitt when he goes through a midlife crisis at the end of the book and begins spouting liberal ideas and associating with the “wrong” crowd.

This is my first encounter with Sinclair Lewis. I really don’t know why I chose to read “Babbitt” first, as I also have copies of “Main Street” and “Arrowsmith”. I think it was the unusual cover of the Penguin edition, which is a picture of a painting called “Booster” by Grant Wood. To me, that picture IS Babbitt, and I’ll always be able to see Babbitt in my head whenever I’m reminded of this book.There really isn’t a lot of symbolism here (and the symbolism that is here is pretty easy to decipher) and the prose is much closer to our present day writing and speech. This is brilliant satire, and you’ll laugh out loud at many of the situations Babbitt gets himself into. An especially hilarious incident occurs when one of the local millionaire businessmen finally accepts an invitation to dine with Babbitt. The evening goes badly because Babbitt is in a lower social class. Lewis then shows Babbitt going to a dinner at an old friends house who is in a lower class then him. It’s hilarious to see the similarities between the two events, and it brings home how class is strictly enforced in Zenith, and by extension, America.

Babbitt is a person that I found myself both hating and liking, often within the space of one page. He’s ignorant, in that he is a major conformist who often repeats slogans and phrases merely because others in his circle say the same things. He’s a namedropper who refers to people he doesn’t even know as though they were his best friends. He’s also high volume. Babbitt is one of those people we all know who is always boisterous and noisy so they can hide their own insecurities or ignorance. Just when you think you can’t stand Babbitt for another second, Lewis tosses in a situation that makes you feel for the man. Babbitt is the boss at a real estate company, and he worries about his employees liking him. When a confrontation arises with one of his salesmen, Babbitt frets and doesn’t want to fire the guy, although the rules of business eventually force him to do exactly that. He wants all of his employees to like him. He also feels bad about cheating on his wife while she is away and worries about what his children will think of him when he comes in drunk after a night of carousing. Ultimately, although Babbitt can be a major heel, the reader is almost forced to sympathize with him. This is true especially at the end of the book, when Babbitt renounces his liberal ways and rejoins his old colleagues. His return to the pack is not quite complete, however. Babbitt is changed by his transgression, and has learned a few lessons that he imparts to his son on the last page of the book, thus ending the tale on an upbeat note.

I would like to have seen a better section of explanatory notes in this Penguin edition. While some of the more obscure references are defined, many are not. Also, some of the language in the book is very 1920’s slang, and for a 21st century ear, it can be difficult to pick up on some of them. This book is both funny and sad, but well worth reading. Sinclair Lewis eventually won Pulitzer and Nobel prizes for his literary endeavors. It’s not hard to see why. Recommended.